I’m Sorry Dave I’m Afraid I Can’t Do That

The aerospace industry—including commercial, military, and federal organizations—is actively seeking radiation-hardened (rad-hard) electronic systems and components. The mil/aero market is taking off (no pun intended), as more and more electronics are launching into high-altitude and space environments on commercial and military satellites, new space shuttle platforms, commercial and federal aircraft and spacecraft, and more.

Designers and developers of rad-hard electronics—including ASICs, SOCs, and FPGAs—are very much in demand right now. In fact, NASA and academia want to hear from engineers who are designing, testing, qualifying, and verifying electronic systems and components for space. (This means you, users of Mentor Graphic’s Precision Rad-Tolerant, ModelSim, and/or Precision RTL Plus electronic design automation tools.)

The California Institute of Technology (CalTech)–the academic home of National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)–in Pasadena, Calif., has issued a request for information from potential contractors on the design, verification, manufacture, and validation of radiation-hardened application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) in support of the Jupiter Europa Orbiter mission (JEO). CalTech is operating under a prime contract with NASA.

The Europa Jupiter System Mission (EJSM) is a joint NASA/European Space Agency (ESA) mission that is to consist of two flight elements exploring the Jovian system: the NASA-led JEO and the ESA-led Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter (JGO). JEO and JGO will execute a choreographed exploration of the Jovian system before settling into orbit around Europa and Ganymede, respectively.

The launch of JEO is expected to occur in 2020, arriving at Jupiter in 2025. Jupiter Orbit Insertion (JOI) begins a 30-month Jovian system tour followed by a 9-month science mapping phase after Europa Orbit Insertion (EOI) in July 2028. The orbiter will ultimately impact the surface of Europa after the mission is completed.

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“The current JEO and JGO mission concepts include 11 and 10 complementary instruments, respectively, to monitor dynamic phenomena (such as Ios volcanoes and Jupiters atmosphere), map the Jovian magnetosphere and its interactions with the Galilean satellites, and characterize water oceans beneath the ice shells of Europa and Ganymede,” according to NASA.

Jupiter is roughly 10 times the size of the Earth; yet, its magnetic moment is almost 20,000 times stronger. (For any of you non-ubergeeks out there: The magnetic field at the equator is proportional to the magnetic moment divided by the cube of the radial distance, so the Jovian magnetic field is proportionally 20 times larger than that of the Earth.)

The Jovian moons of interest lie well within the radiation belt. As a result, the radiation environment for the current mission concept is estimated at a 2.9 Mrad total ionizing dose (TID) behind 100-mil thick aluminum—a level seven times greater than any previous NASA mission.

For more information and to submit information in response to the request for information (RFI), visit https://www.fbo.gov/spg/NASA/HQ/OPHQDC/TY-10-06/listing.html or e-mail the point of contact (POC) at maryhelen.ruiz@jpl.nasa.govyan@jpl.nasa.gov.

HAL9000's all seeing eye from the movie 2001

This geek wonders if we will find one of Author/Engineer Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s (2001, 2010, 2061, 3001, and many others) black obelisks orbiting the planet! Hopefully we aren’t using the HAL 9000 to control ship functions, “I’m sorry Dave I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

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